Change
by PurpleHeroBanjo
Summary: Would you consider a shiny child a curse or a blessing? Would you move on from life if you lost that child, or search for it? What will this gardevoir decide during her adventure? Please review.
1. Seperation

It was a cloudy day over the Hoenn region, inside of one forest, the sounds of leaves crunching and the wind bellowing through the trees, the sun beaming through a little through some of the trees that illuminated the forest. In front of one of the trees, a green haired and white gowned Pokémon that resembled a humanoid shape, with a red-pink fin-like object sticking through its chest and back, was sitting in front of the trees. It was a Gardevoir, and resting within her arms was a smaller Pokémon that had shiny blue hair and two orange coloured horn object sticking through it on the front and back respectively. The Pokémon was a special shiny Ralts that hatched barely a week ago from its egg. Gardevoir was feeding it a small Oran Berry, the flavour of the berry was tasty.

Ralts seemed happy once it had finished the berry, but then, Gardevoir saw a Pokémon on all fours approaching, with brown and white zigzag patterened fur. The young Zigzagoon approached Gardevoir, and it looked like it wanted to play. A lot of Pokémon inhabited the area, so it was normal for them to want to interact. Gardevoir put Ralts down, and it began to giggle. When the Zigzagoon rubbed against the child Pokémon, the mother smiled, standing up and walking away to find herself something to eat. Since it was the tail end of summer, the warmth had begun to fade more and more by the day berries had been a little harder to scavenge for in the general area. Sometimes, Gardevoir would go for a day or two without eating anything. Some of the other pokemon with children weren't any different, prioritizing their young with the berries they sometimes have to fight for. If a trainer didn't pick them, a more aggressive Pokémon would try to horde them all for themselves. Thankfully, she was stronger than most of the hostile encounters she had met with.

Gardevoir spent the next hour looking through the surrounding forest until she got lucky and came upon a bush that had Pecha Berries growing on it. She was happy with the findings since they were sweet in taste. Soon, after having gathered the five Pecha Berries from the bush, she began to make her way back to her child. That was until she heard a voice. "Quick attack!" A loud smash rang out. She dropped her berries and ran through the bushes and branches. She saw a black haired girl in a pink shirt and skirt, standing there. In front of her was a Seedot. The Zigzagoon from earlier was lying against a tree which it had been knocked into. The Pokémon trainer then had her focus entirely set on the shiny Ralts, but the zigzagoon had got in her way, and as result, having to be knocked out.

"A shiny Ralts… come on, Seedot. She'll be perfect for our team," the trainer spoke, encouraging her tiny acorn Pokémon that nodded. Ralts just stood there, watching, not knowing any understanding of what was going on exactly. "Tackle!" she called out. Seedot threw itself at the Ralts to try and damage it to weaken it, but before it could midway, it smacked face first into a light screen wall. "What?! How is a Ralts able to-" the trainer went quiet upon realizing where the light screen came from, as Gardevoir approached one step at a time. The trainer was in awe. Strong Pokémon weren't really known for being in the area. Gardevoir picked up her child before glaring at the Seedot. The Seedot suddenly felt a surge of pain shoot through its mind from a psychic attack, getting rendered unconscious easily and falling over to its acorn back.

"Oh no! Seedot!" the trainer cried, picking up her Pokémon. Gardevoir just stayed motionless, watching her begin to run off out of fear. Once gone, Gardevoir was relieved, hugging her child in her arms. Ralts was happy and unharmed. She looked over to the Zigzagoon that had probably distracted the trainer long enough for her to arrive to stop the capture. "Garde…" she crouched down, rubbing the Zigzagoon's side, feeling guilty for it getting hurt. It looked at her. "Zagoon… Zig-zagoon," it spoke, more than glad to help Ralts. She went and regathered the berries, Gardevoir gave two of the berries to the young Zigzagoon as thanks before she sat down beside it, watching it begin to eat them, planning on resting for a short time to recover. She looked down at the Ralts in her arm. It was almost asleep, having easily become tired from playing. She decided to stay there for now, thinking it was safe here, now that the trainer had been scared off.

The next day, Gardevoir found herself awake after the night. She still felt tired, looking down and seeing Ralts still asleep in her lap, though the Zigzagoon friend of her child was now gone, presumably back to somewhere warmer to get to sleep. She looked to the sky, trying to see through the thick bunches of leaves. A few drips of rain were beginning to pour. She felt her shiny Ralts beginning to move around in its sleep as she was waking up. Gardevoir stroked a hand through her shiny blue hair. She got up and began to walk a bit deeper into the forest, wanting to get away from the rain, though something else had caught her attention. A weird warmth from nearby. It didn't take long to find the source of the warmth which was a tree that had a huge scorch mark on the side. The leaves lay burned to the ground, embers still scattered around.

Gardevoir was careful, pulling Ralts closer in her arms. She took a peek through some more of the brush and noticed two more trainers talking amongst each other. "And you're sure you heard this at the Pokémon centre?" one trainer asked, wearing a red jacket and black pants with his hair in a ponytail. "I swear. Some weird girl came in last night telling Nurse Joy about what happened to her Seedot. Come on, man. Either way we could use some new teammates. Just imagine how popular we'll be with a shiny Pokémon," the other trainer persuaded, being an older boy with black hair in a red baseball cap and a striped shirt. "That's if we find it first anyway. A lot of trainers came once they heard the news," he quickly added.

"I guess… I had to blast a horde of Wurmples already over there," the first trainer pointed a thumb to where he had burnt the tree with his Pokémon. Gardevoir took a step back and began to run away, glad to have avoided another confrontation. Ralts was beginning to get upset from the rapid movement. The mother tried to keep her child quiet, but she doubted she could do much. Suddenly, she crashed into something, getting knocked back. An oversized Zangoose was in front of her, as it turned around and glared at her, unamused by the collision. "You find something Zang- …oh my Arceus!" a young trainer rang out in shock and awe, dressed in a yellow hat and a green dress, apparently out hunting for the shiny child as well.

Gardevoir quickly stood up aiming a hand at the Zangoose. "Oh. Crush Claw!" the trainer ordered. Zangoose's claws began to glow bright light as it charged at Gardevoir, taking a swing. She couldn't get her attack off in time. Before she knew it, she felt a sharp pain ring out through her leg, and Zangoose was behind her. Gardevoir was forced onto one knee. Its crush claw had made a good deep cut to tear into her flesh. She did her best to keep her focus, firing a small yellow ball that went around zangoose. After it went around its head a few times, it suddenly became dizzy and started acting weird. "Zangy? Are you okay?" the trainer questioned before seeing her Pokémon walk into a tree and fall onto its side, clearly having lost its mind to the Confuse Ray. The trainer was distracted for too long that Gardevoir forced herself up and began to flee again as fast as she could.

Half an hour later, Gardevoir was hiding in some tall grass that usually was housed by the smaller Pokémon. The forest felt empty like all of the friendly Pokémon, She knew were no longer around. She looked at Ralts who was starting to cry. "Garde…" she sighed, hearing the sound of more footsteps outside. It made a shiver go up her spine. She couldn't run anymore. It wasn't a viable option with her leg bleeding partially. The constant throb of pain didn't help matters, either. "Ra?" something caught her attention. An Abra was sitting alongside her. One of a few psychic types in the area, Abras were known for usually teleporting away to other areas in the region when scared. Gardevoir looked down at her shiny child, handing it over to the Abra. It was confused, though.

Ralts began crying, its light voice beginning to echo the forest. Gardevoir put up the meanest appearance she could, looking ready to attack Abra. Instantly, its tail straightened and it abruptly vanished with the shiny Ralts in hand with teleport.

Gardevoir just stayed, sitting there, staring at the space where they used to be, the tall grass over her head bellowing with wind, and the dark skies beginning to pour rain even harder. She began to lay down, everything around her feeling faint and becoming harder and harder to see and feel, before starting to fall unconscious.


	2. Memory

Gardevoir found herself just lost in her mind of her unconscious body. The only thing she was dreaming of right now was her sitting beside a small pond of water, where a few water Pokémon were swimming around, playing with one another. She was watching, with her feet dangling in the water. She saw one of the water Pokémon pop out from the pond and come up to her, easily recognizable as an Azurill, its tail floating behind it, the blue ball on the tail being nearly as big as the small blue Pokémon itself. It hopped out of the water, approaching the fully evolved psychic. "Azu!" it hopped up and down happily, wanting her to join it in the water. "Voir," she shook her head, not wanting to get completely soaked, petting its head.

"Ah, Mister Jones! Welcome back! Your Pokémon are doing great. You'll be happy to know your Gardevoir has levelled up by 2, and your Azurill's levelled up by 5," said the day care attendant that normally watched the Pokémon in the day care center from nearby, when he wasn't feeding them or handling certain problems. She could see an old man approaching. He was bald, and using a cane to help him walk. Gardevoir stood up, holding the Azurill in her arms, happy to see her trainer. "I was barely away for two days, and you look like you've grown already," the old man named Jones smiled while taking Azurill from Gardevoir. It snuggled into his chest, glad to see its trainer again. "Thank you for staying with her Gardevoir. She just dreads being alone with Pokémon she doesn't know," he thanked her, as they exited the day care. The old man's eyelids were looking heavy like he hadn't slept much, Gardevoir ignoring it while they walked beside each other.

Once back in the nearby oceanside town of Slateport City, they came to a small home. She was curious why her trainer hadn't recalled them to their Pokéballs yet. It wasn't abnormal to be out this long, but without real reason. It was all confusing that he had left the Gardevoir with the young Azurill at the day care so he could go on a very important trip, as he described it. Inside the home was a couch along with a small coffee table. There was a lack of a television, though. Jones rested the Azurill on the table as he took a seat in front of it, beginning to cough violently. "Garde?" Gardevoir stepped toward him, concerned. "D-don't worry about me, Gardevoir…" he smiled while pulling out two more Pokéballs, opening them both.

A big blue feathered bird, known as a Swellow, appeared on the elderly person's shoulder, along with a dark furred wolf Pokémon named Mightyena by his side. "I'm sorry for not seeing any of you for a while. I was visiting an old friend, you see," he started while running a hand along Mightyena's pelt. Gardevoir was confused why a friendly visit would require him to leave his Pokémon behind. "I was doing it to say goodbye to him. We had a lot of fun times over the years, haven't we?" he coughed, smiling at the memories of his older adventures. Jones was a man who had won a lottery twenty years ago and had decided to travel as much of the world as possible in his time, and in doing so, gathered so much Pokémon information like any other explorer or trainer.

"Mightyena… it's been six years since we first met. You were dragging a broken trap on your ankle, trying to steal food from my bag. I just wish you hadn't bit me so much when I tried taking off the trap," Jones continued while Mightyena licked his hand like a loyal dog. "Swellow… you helped me fly over anything in our way even when your wings hurt… and Azurill… you're not even four months old, yet I feel like we've had a bond for a lifetime," he continued while the Azurill jumped up and down happily. Gardevoir could sense something was wrong. He didn't seem right. He was more sluggish than usual.

"Gardevoir… eleven years ago, I found your egg lying in a cave… me and my other Pokémon took good care of you when you hatched… I know you miss them as much as I do, but they lived great lives battling alongside me since I was in elementary… but you… you took care of me in my eldery age. Even when I insisted you to rest, you popped out of your pokéball on your own," Jones sighed, mourning the past two of his Pokémon who had died from old age. It was expected, and he knew the memories would always keep them alive in a sense. Gardevoir nodded, acknowledging the assistance she had given him more then glad to have helped her trainer.

"I just thought I'd apologize. I'm going to release a lot of you tomorrow," Jones claimed, stunning them all. The once happy Azurill had stopped its jumping, and began weeping almost in seconds. Jones picked it up and begin petting it to calm it down. "Hush now… you'll be fine, Azurill. You'll be with my granddaughter. But… the doctors said I only got a week to live… I think it's best for you all to get back to the wild and decide your own fate…" he smiled. He had already decided that his Pokemon must go on their own, and back to the wild, all but the baby Azurill who was to be with his grandchild. Gardevoir was silent. She was not sure how to react to the situation. Everything around her was starting to feel feint and vague, and then beginning to drift away. The last image she saw was Mightyena resting his head on Jones' lap, while Swellow was on his shoulder, and Azurill's echoing cries of uncontrollable sorrow.

Gardevoir slowly opened her eyes, lying in some bed. Her leg hurt to move, but she pushed the blankets aside and sat up. She had found herself in an empty room, which had nothing but that one bed. She could see a few flowers growing outside on the windowsill, and then her leg where the Zangoose had injured her. It was covered by some stitches and bandaging. She walked out of the room, ignoring the occasional pain that was in her muscles. She could see a lack of furniture in the living room aside from a television and a single reclining chair. "Oh, hey. Are you okay?" she heard, turning around aiming her hand toward the front door. She found a man with black hair, who had a blue sweater on and a pair of glasses. "W-whoa, whoa! I'm not going to hurt you!" he exclaimed in fear, knowing how much a psychic attack could damage one's mind.

Gardevoir lowered her hand, feeling guilty for having grown used to reacting and attacking quickly to a simple sound from trying to protect her child, that was before she had sent it with the Abra for its own safety. "Let me just put this stuff up, and I'll make us lunch, okay?" he offered. Gardevoir just looked to him and nodded, accepting the offer. "Garde…" she said. He just smiled, taking it as a yes, since she wasn't threatening his life anymore. "Great! I think I have a few Leppa Berries lying around…" he said, going to the kitchen to start cooking, letting her do what she wanted to pass the time.


	3. New place

Gardevoir found herself sitting at the kitchen table, where there wasn't much furnishing in the kitchen either. It was still missing a lot of electronics, and thus only had a refrigerator at most. The stranger she had barely met a few minutes ago came over, placing a small bowl of berries in front of her. She was glad to see a lot of Leppa Berries, having been only eating one or two a day which had been bothering her weight. Immediately, she picked one up and began to eat it. The Leppa Berries had a mix of juicy and spicy flavor. That which she especially enjoyed. "You were asleep for about a day or so. Sorry for startling you earlier. I'm Rob," Rob explained to her. It was obvious that rob had begun moving into the home only recently.

Gardevoir stopped halfway through one of the berries, giving him a gaze, questioning if she had been captured by another trainer. "Garde?" she spoke, Rob not able to process what she meant. The Psychic-Type pointed to his pocket where a great ball was dangling from a chain. She then pointed at herself. Rob took a few seconds to process it. "Oh! No, I didn't catch you. I just can't stand seeing a pokemon hurt and left like that," Rob stated. She was still as free as any other wild Pokémon. She didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. It was an odd mood, and the dream from earlier didn't help the strange feelings either.

"I'm guessing you got into a fight with a Pokémon and lost?" Rob tried to guess at what occurred to knock her unconscious. Gardevoir nodded. "Voir…" she insisted that was what partially happened. "Well you're welcome to do what you want. I'll be unpacking," he smiled, not caring if she stayed or left. Gardevoir was happy to at least meet some nice people, as she continued to eat the Leppa Berries, glad to enjoy the tastes they had. "I used to be a berry farmer. I still grow them, but I haven't had the chance to plant any around here just yet," he added, going over to the boxes that were on the counter to put away the various kitchen utensils.

Gardevoir, after finishing her food, wondered what to do now, not exactly sure of her location, let alone what she should do now about her child being gone. She hadn't even thought that plan through sending it with an Abra. She was worried how the Shiny Ralts would fare on its own. She just sighed, getting up from the table. "Garde?" she spoke, getting Rob's attention which made him raise an eyebrow, not sure what she wanted. "Do you need something?" he asked, hoping she could maybe show him some charades to simplify what she wanted. "Do you need another potion for your leg?" he guessed. She shook her head and pointed to the window where some of the neighboring nearby buildings could be viewed, and then scratched her head, putting on a confused face for the charade.

"Uh… you want to know who the neighbors are? Well, one of the homes is empty. These were recently constructed," Rob answered, pulling out a piece of paper from his back pocket and showing it to her. Gardevoir looked at it. It was some kind of home sales office in the advertisement of the paper, being a leftover from the salesperson. "Dear Rob Smith. We are glad you're moving into your new home! We hope you enjoy your new life in Rustboro City!" it read and continued on about how the area was and the status of the neighbors. So far it seemed like only Rob and one other family had moved into the newly built homes. "Garde!" she smiled, glad to know she was in Rustboro City, at least, but she had no idea what to do now.

"Oh, that's what you wanted? Yeah… sorry I couldn't get you to the Pokémon center. But there was some kinda epidemic going on with a lot of trainers bringing in their Pokémon. They got beaten up in the woods, I think?" Rob described, apologizing for not getting her more professional medical attention. If she had worsened in condition, he would have done so. She nodded, knowing how tough the Pokémon in the woods could be. "Do you want me to take you back to where I found you?" he offered, not wanting to let her get lost from her once home environment. But she doubted it was be safe to go back, still knowing how trainers were at the realization they could get a shiny Pokémon, though they didn't know that the shiny Ralts was long gone.

"Garde, Gardevoir," Gardevoir shook her head, not wanting to go back just yet, aside from the worries of the trainers remembering her. She thought it would be safer to extend some time away from her memories and her temporarily new home. "Well, alright. Me and my Pokémon would be more than happy to have you around… oh, that's right! Why don't you meet them," he smiled, feeling dumb for not introducing his Pokémon to her. He pulled the Pokéball out of his side pocket and opened it. A weird round cyan Pokémon appeared. It had four skinny legs, and a yellow cap. It was known as a Surskit, a bug-water type. It stared at her for a second. "Sur-surskit!" it spoke, greeting her. Gardevoir crouched down, shaking one of its skinny limbs in response.

"I know your leg probably still hurts. But would you mind helping me move all this stuff in? I'd hate to have it all wet from the rain tonight," Rob requested. Gardevoir didn't mind, believing if she endured the pain, it will yet go away in a good moment. Surskit was just eager to help its master, and it skittered out the front door. "He's a bit excitable," Rob apologized while they followed it. He was making plans to take her to the Pokémon center for a check up. If there weren't as many trainers at it now. He stayed focused on the task at hand, glad to have some friends to help.


	4. Treatment

Gardevoir had finished helping Rob and his Surskit move in some of the few pieces of furniture from outside. But it hadn't helped her leg. If anything, it had only put more stress on the injury. She kept ignoring it, hoping her sore muscle would pass. "I appreciate the help," Rob said, glad everything was done. She saw the Surskit lying on a small pillow, having tired itself out. Rob looked down at her leg which she was rubbing a little. He shook his head, looking to his tiny blue Pokémon. "Hey, I'm taking him to get a check-up. Why don't we get your legged looked at," he offered, guileful, but guilty for not taking her sooner, thinking it might have been too hopeful that she may recover just from time and a regular potion. Gardevoir nodded, accepting his offer. Rob recalled Surskit to its Pokéball before leading Gardevoir out of the newly furnished home.

Gardevoir viewed the few big buildings of Rustboro City. She had been told from some other Pokémon that the city had been expanding more. Thus, a good bit of surrounding area forest got cut down. She could see various citizens who were doing their own things, though she saw something the structure of a soon to be big building that was going to neighbour the known Devon Corporation Headquarters. "Oh. That's going to be a new expansion for the Devon Corporation. No clue what they're going to do with it, but they promise it'll help employ a lot of people," Rob exclaimed, describing what the purpose of the building was going to be soon. Gardevoir was still trying to adapt to being in a city this big. Still, it was unexpected. She had caught views and glimpses of it before, but she never did go this far in.

They arrived to the Pokémon Centre, which was stationed right by the Poké Mart like in any other town to convenience trainers. Gardevoir followed Rob inside the clinic. Inside, a few trainers were around, at least ten who were being assisted by various staff members. "Well… it's not as full," Rob muttered. She recognized one of the trainers. It was the same boy that had his hair in a ponytail and wearing a red jacket. He had an unconscious small red chick in his hands that was a Torchic, looking like it had been heavily bruised and assaulted. Gardevoir didn't know whether to feel sorry or not for the poor thing, since it had been assisting someone who was hunting her child barely a few days ago.

"Oh, hello, Mister Rob. How may I help?" the pink haired Nurse Joy questioned, having seen him before. "I'm here to get my Surskit a check-up. And this Gardevoir needs her leg looked at," he explained to the nurse who nodded back. "Alright. Well, I just need their Pokéballs, and I'll examine them right away," she held out her hands. He handed her Surskit's Pokéball, but she kept her other hand out, waiting for Gardevoir's Pokéball, which she didn't have. "Oh. Uh, her Pokéball broke…" he lied. Nurse Joy was understanding, though it wasn't like it was the first time a Pokémon could not be carried in a compact ball with ease. "That's alright. Come with me," Nurse Joy insisted. Gardevoir was hesitant to trust that nurse, but she then followed her into the back room.

Gardevoir found herself lying on a medical table, waiting patiently. The few minutes that had passed felt like hours. That which she didn't ever like about Pokémon Centres when it came to major injuries, but being without a Pokéball. She knew it came at the cost of easy healing from the machine. She heard the door open and saw a doctor in blue clothing and a white coat enter. "Hey there. I'm Doctor Mitch. I'll be doing your check-up. Your trainer said you had leg pain?" the doctor introduced himself while pulling up a chair beside her. She showed the bandaged area of her leg, the rags being tainted red. Mitch examined it and sighed. "A trainer's handiwork alright…" he began to remove the bandages to view the injury himself up close. Once unravelled, the doctor looked in awe, as the gash was deep blood still seeping out.

"Hm… it appears you have been cut deep… and if you've had it covered for a while, then it must have a slight infection. You're going to need stitches. But I'm worried about how deep you're cut… it might have hit the bone," the doctor rambled about the injury and the bad parts of it, and he reached into one of the many drawers nearby and pulled out the materials to stitch her leg up. "Garde…" she muttered, depressed by the idea that she will have to endure this. "It's very unlikely. Don't get worried about it," he laughed, trying to cheer her up. She just felt one sharp sting after another of the needle going through her skin and flesh, pulling the wound together. She just gritted her teeth and suffered the pain.

Rob was in the waiting room, and his Surskit was on his lap, cuddled up to him, having tired out from its check-up. Rob waited until he started to hear a ringing tone. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone. "Hello?" he answered, not noticing Gardevoir as she entered the waiting room alongside the doctor. "What?! I, uh… I'll think on it," he hung up before standing out of his chair, Surskit waking up a little. "So, is she going to be okay?" he immediately asked, a new set of bandages covering Gardevoir's leg. "Yes. She's going to need these painkillers for the next week, though. If the stitches reopen, bring her right back," the doctor handed over a prescription bottle of pain easing pills to Rob before going back to treating other patients.

"Voir?" Gardevoir spoke, pointing to his cellphone in his shirt pocket. "It was just my sister calling. Don't worry. How's the leg?" Rob tried to change the subject. She shook her head. "Garde-gardevoir…" she rubbed it sorely. It still hurt, but that was mainly from the stitches, but it felt more like the pain had progressed to her knee from her lower thigh. "Well, at least you'll get a cool scar once it is healed," he tried to give a positive to it, but he doubted it would even help. He handed her the bottle since he wasn't her trainer. He wanted her to have it in case she left abruptly. She opened the bottle of pills and ate one, hoping for them to take effect fast.

"Kit-surskit!" Surskit chimed reassuringly. "I need to get back home. Come on," Rob spoke a bit more flatly, walking ahead. Gardevoir was wondering what had specifically made him a bit colder toward her, believing the phone call had done it. Whatever the sister of Rob spoke to him about. She knew she had to blend in better if she planned on staying until she healed. Thus she began to follow him back to her temporary home.


	5. Beginning of a journey

Gardevoir had followed Rob back to his house. He immediately went down the hall to one of the other rooms. Gardevoir found herself alone with his Surskit that was going around happily like the check-up had been completely pointless for the water bug. She just took a seat in one of the chairs to rest, ignoring the hyperactive Pokémon, questioning herself just how long she was going to waste Rob's time staying with him when she wasn't even going to be his Pokémon. The thought of it alone only made her feel guilty. She saw Surskit come to her. "Sur-skitsur!" it spoke wanting to play with her. She didn't mind the offer, thinking that using her psychic power to entertain him would be easy, at least.

After an hour of making water flow in strange patterns with her psychic powers, Gardevoir saw Rob re-enter the living room. "Garde?" she gave a small wave while Surskit approached its trainer. "Look, Gardevoir… I'm going to take you back to where I found you. Something came up," he claimed. Surskit became quickly saddened by this. "Voir?" she tilted her head, wanting to know what was wrong. He recalled Surskit to its Pokéball. "It's my sister. Like I said, she called earlier and… well, I have to go to Mount Pyre to meet her," he stated. Mount Pyre was a well-known burial ground for Pokémon that had passed on and wanted to be remembered by their trainer. "Garde-gardevoir!" she said, not wanting to go back to the forest yet, thinking the trainers would be hunting for her now just because of the few times she had to fight them off.

"What? …You want to come with me?" Rob raised an eyebrow. Hesitantly, she nodded like she had to rethink what she had just offered to do. "Are you sure you're up for something like that?" he questioned, looking toward her leg, knowing that she would refuse to be caught by him. Yet Gardevoir doubted he was able to get there safely with just his Surskit, especially if trainers were eager to fight. She was aware of how weak the tiny water bug could be in such tough situations. "Gardevoir…" she smiled, not wanting to believe it, but maybe getting away from here would quit reminding her of the shiny Ralts. Rob just scratched his head. "Well… we better get to packing, I guess. It'll be nice to have a travelling partner," he stated, walking to another room. She followed suit, hoping the share she would then have to carry wouldn't be that heavy. She could feel her leg throbbing sorely at the mere thought of the long travel.

A few minutes later, Gardevoir had a bag over her shoulder, dangling off her side. The bag had many pockets, and it was filled with various items. Rob was loading his own backpack with more supplies. "Alright. That should be the last of it. Are you ready?" he asked, her glad to have company for the trip ahead. She nodded willingly, as she was as good as she could get. Before they left his home, however, she pulled out her painkillers, taking two of the pills before putting the bottle away in her side bag. She went to catch up to Rob afterwards.

With that, Gardevoir and Rob had set out of Rustboro City. The way they were going began with a simple walk outside of town through tall grass. Any Pokémon they encountered were easily quashed by Gardevoir, since the general area was mostly full of weaker ones that didn't need much mental power to defeat, and whenever she felt slightly drained, Surskit would take over to deal with the encounter. Being a skinny weak water bug, it certainly held its own well.

They arrived to a cave entrance, Rob pulling out a flashlight as they entered. "Not as bright as a flash, but hey, I'll take it," Rob smirked, Gardevoir remaining silent to ignore her own leg pain that had been slowly coming back with each passing minute. "Hey, you!" a voice rang out as they saw a bright flash of light that illuminated the whole cave. A man in a white karate gi and a red bandana was standing, with a small purple skinned Pokémon alongside him that had gem like eyes and a red gem on its chest. The cave being brightened, they could see that they were in more of an open hallway at most. It was straight and simple, and they were aware that one person had been spending a lot of time digging it out. "Oh, hey. You're, uh… that one guy constantly digging here, right?" he asked, recalling hearing about this trainer, being someone who had been doing his best to dig out the cave. The cave was originally mined by the Devon Corporation, but they stopped immediately once they realized the harm it was doing to Pokémon.

"Yeah! My names Zeke, and I got so much energy I need to get it out with a Pokémon battle! Some white haired guy came and finished it!" the trainer exclaimed happily. Gardevoir tilted her head, unsure who would go out of their way to dig a tunnel out. "Alright. You take it easy. Sableye's immune to psychic," he claimed, throwing out a Pokéball. Surskit appeared backwards, and it quickly jumped to turn around and face its opponent.

"Sableye, use Scratch!" Zeke ordered, watching his Pokémon's fingers glow bright until it charged at Surskit, swinging at it. "Water Pulse!" Rob called out. Surskit quickly made a huge ball of water in its tiny limbs and fired it, striking Sableye back a good distance. It quickly recovered though. "Faint Attack!" Zeke's voice echoed, Sableye vanishing for a brief second. Surskit looked around until suddenly he got hit from behind from his opponent's attack. Gardevoir could do nothing but watch, feeling worthless for seeing her tiny friend get hurt. "Quick Attack, and Bubblebeam!" he shouted. Surskit quickly scurried at the foe Sableye and slammed into it, before firing a beam of harmful bubbles at a close range. Each small bubble that hit hurt more and more. "Water Pulse again!" Rob immediately ordered, watching the water strider fire a huge pulse of water that hit Sableye directly in the chest. The purple foe hit the cave wall hard, and it fell over, unconscious.

Gardevoir clapped for Surskit, in awe at how the fast little bug could fight. "Dang, man. Good fight," Zeke said, recalling Sableye to its Pokéball. Rob came over and picked up Surskit, petting it proudly. "Right. We can stop at Slateport's Pokémon center," he said, Gardevoir nodding in agreement and following her friend through the cave.


	6. Second memory

Gardevoir and Rob had arrived to Verdanturf Town that was at best could be described as a small village. They could only see one big building, the Pokémart and Pokémon Centre, and a few homes. They walked through, while Gardevoir just kept quiet following Rob, as they passed through Route 117 which was near the forest, a few ponds being around with various other people doing exercises, though while passing through, Gardevoir's pace slowed down. She came to a complete halt when she saw a fence by a building. "Hey. You see something?" Rob asked as Gardevoir approached the fence, looking into it to find various Pokémon in there from old to young, enjoying the peace.

After a minute of silent staring, she felt herself shaken back to reality by Rob. "Hey! Are you alright?" he asked again, worried about her spacing out like this. "G…Gardevoir," she stammered out after realizing she had nearly drifted off into her own memories again. He cast a glance into the Daycare, wondering what she had been staring at, only seeing a Numel out in the open, resting and basking in the sunlight lazily. "You know somebody in there?" he asked. Gardevoir just shook her head. Rob looked over his shoulder. "Well, Mauville is up ahead. We're making great time," he reassured, putting an arm behind her as they walked. She was just gathering her thoughts, her leg pain just throbbing and aching like she should have rested a bit along the way.

They entered into a small city, the gym just near the entrance that had a huge thunderbolt dangling on the roof along with the casino right across from it. Various citizens wandered around, casting glances and minor looks at the duo just for being a new face in town. "Look. Why don't we go to the Pokémon Centre and heal you and Surskit up?" Rob suggested. She looked over to the red building. "Garde," she nodded, agreeing to it. She followed him into the Pokémon Center. It was pretty empty today, and he knew that she will probably need her leg looked at again as well. He walked to the counter to get Surskit treated first at the healing machine. Gardevoir just took a seat on a nearby chair to wait, thinking back to the Numel that she had seen. Everything around her was just felt fading, like she had given up on reality.

It was a dark night over a forest on another area of Hoenn. A young green haired Pokémon that had two red horn objects poking from its head and had green and white color to its body. It was Kirlia, Gardevoir's prior form, and the form that came after Ralts. She was aware she was having another memory flashback, but she wanted to enjoy it, recognizing the scene herself. She saw the moon shimmering alongside the stars down on a small campsite, and by the burnt out campfire was a black haired man who looked in his late forties. He had sideburns, and he was lying nearby a big Pokémon that was red furred and had two grey stone volcanoes on its back, and blue rings on its sides.

Kirlia approached it. She had come out of the Pokéball on her own in the middle of the night to enjoy the environment, but it was cold. She patted the big red Pokémon's head. It opened one eye and looked at her. "Rupt?" it spoke. She pointed to the fire. It breathed a puff of smoke through its nostrils and nodded. Kirlia picked up a stick and held it up to one of the higher areas of its back, letting it breath out a small puff of flames to ignite the stick. She threw it back on the rest of the sticks to see them all relight ablaze, illuminating the area of trees. With that, she sat down beside Camerupt, leaning back on it, resting on it like an over sized doll. It had been slower than usual lately, but their trainer Jones had been riding it to get through mountainous terrain that had been obscuring the routes lately.

As Kirlia rested, she started to hear a strange sound of bushes rustling and leaves crinkling. Sensing something was wrong, she stood up immediately and looked around. "La-Kirlia!" she shouted, Camerupt opening its eyes to wonder what she was panicking about. It growled, beginning to force itself onto its feet with a lot of effort. "Ugh… what is it, Kirlia? You have a nightmare or something?" Jones questioned while sitting up, seeing the lit campfire that was at least a nicer welcome, but he could tell the green haired Pokémon had been startled by something else. He stood up, backing up closer to the campfire. Appearing before them was a long necked part-Grass, part-Flying type Pokémon, Tropius. Alongside it, a few Linoones coming from various sides. At least five Linoones were surrounding them, clearly they were being led by the Tropius in some attempt to steal food from trainers.

"Sorry to exhaust you like this, Camerupt but I think we need to fight," Jones said, Kirlia getting ready as three of the Linoones immediately dashed at them. "Camerupt! Earthquake!" he shouted, watching his over sized red camel Pokémon raise its left legs and then stomp them hard on the ground. The area began shaking as large chunks of the ground began ripping up and cracking. The Linoones were trapped in the tremor and injured badly, crashing into the disrupted terrain or being shaken into fear.

Jones smiled, seeing that three of them were defeated already. "Psychic, Kirlia," he pointed at one of the other Linoones. She focused on it, closing her eyes. Linoone's head began to throb in agony before a shock wave of pain surged through its head, disabling it. That was when he finally noticed something, that Tropius had the leaves on its back glowing brightly, its mouth open. A bright yellow ball was beginning to appear. The trainer knew it was nothing good. "Kirlia, quickly! Hypnosis!" he ordered. Kirlia was about to do as ordered until the last Linoone decided to surprise them, having used Quick Attack to speed straight toward her and hit her from behind. She fell to the ground.

"Kirlia! Quick, Stomp, Camerupt!" he ordered. His Pokémon Camerupt used Stomp to slam its left foot on the Linoone's back, easily rendering it unconscious. The area got brighter as they watched Tropius' wings glow brighter. Its neck straightened, facing its foes, and a giant solar ray shot out of it. Camerupt moved as fast as it could to get in between the beam and its trainer who had Kirlia in his arms, trying to help her up.

The Solarbeam hit Camerupt directly in the side, as it was actually being moved from where it was standing from the force of it without orders. It just reacted on instinct as it fired huge bursts of fire from its back. Jones looked up. Above him was the sky that was being filled with flames from huge burning rocks. He learned that Camerupt was using Eruption. It was a move he could call omnipotent, but he still disliked to use it, since it usually damaged the area. Tropius got pelted by the heavy fire that burnt it heavily, along with lighting multiple of the trees on fire. The Solarbeam stopped, and Tropius fell onto its side, having been even more injured from the super effective fire.

Camerupt fell onto its stomach in pain, Kirlia staring at her fellow Pokémon that just was looking back. She could recognize the look in its eyes, which showed true agony from its injuries. "Wow… you did great my friends…" Jones smiled while putting Kirlia back on her feet, glad she wasn't injured badly from the sneak attack. Usually, hordes of Pokémon were easier to handle. Jones wished he hadn't gotten caught off guard. He looked at Camerupt and sighed. "Look… why don't you just take it easy? I'll call you back out when I need you again," he said. His green haired Pokémon nodded, allowing him to recall her to the Great Ball she occupied.

Her memory seemed to skip from there. Kirlia's eyes were blinded a bit, and it took a moment to recall out, that was when the memory caught back up. It was day time, and now the linoones had left the campsite. She saw Jones sitting near Camerupt that was lying on its side. He had something on his head, though it was a very pretty butterfly Pokémon known as a Beautifly, a small grey wolf like Pokémon, which she recognized as Poochyena. They were both sitting alongside him.

"Kirlia?" Kirlia gave a wave to her fellow Pokémon. They all seemed glum, though. She saw the trees that had been hit by the eruption, which were now heavily burnt, and on top of that the trees and bushes were destroyed, nearly as well as the ground that had been ruptured and damaged from the earthquake. Jones motioned her to step over. She did so, approaching the team she had been with for years. He wrapped an arm around Kirlia, pulling herself close. His other hand was stroking Poochyena's head. "A tough time came upon us… last night, we got attacked. I should've called you all out… I don't know what I was thinking… the stress of it all was all he could take," Jones said. Camerupt lay in front of them, its eyes closed and unmoved since last night his trainer had an expression of depression. One pile of empty bottles laid nearby. Most were Super Potions or just regular Potions.

"…I didn't get my Pokémon like the rest of the class. I went with dad to the mountain when I was eight. We got separated, and then a wild Pokémon attacked me. And there he was. That Numel just came out of nowhere and saved me, even when he got beaten up, I was just some random kid… he took the pain for me back then and now. I will always be thankful for keeping me safe and helping us all," Jones gave his small speech in honors of the Camerupt. Kirlia could guess that he had spent all night making the fire-ground type's final moments as painless as possible. It felt like her fault that they had gotten hurt. If she had watched her back more, she could have just put Tropius to sleep, and no one would have been hurt, but she knew the Camerupt was probably just a few years younger than his trainer, death might have been inevitable.

The last thing Kirlia saw was a hand with a few Rare Candies held out for her. "…this isn't a reason to be sad. It might not have ended the way he wanted, but I'm sure he's glad he spent his final days with us…" he added. Kirlia hesitantly took one. The last thing the memory of hers had was her putting the rare candy in her mouth, whilst her memory began to get foggy.


	7. Battle

"Gardevoir? Gardevoir!" The Pokémon snapped out of her memory, looking up to see Rob who was shaking her out of worry. She was still in the Pokémon centre with Nurse Joy standing by. "G-Garde?" she awkwardly smiled, aware that she had dozed off. "Her leg's fine. Has she been getting enough rest?" Nurse Joy asked the person who was lying about being her trainer. "Yeah. Look if her leg's fine, good, it's all I wanted to hear," he claimed. Since Gardevoir was back to normal, he wasn't worried. Nurse Joy didn't want to argue with a trainer, presuming he knew more about his Pokémon than she possibly could.

Rob and Gardevoir exited the Pokémon Centre after the weird moment. She knew it was still going to be a long trip to Mount Pyre. They went to the east of town and entered onward to Route 118 that was not far from the town and was quite small. It only had a few small hills and a big stream of water up ahead. When they approached the stream, Gardevoir had to wonder how they would get across. Rob scratched his head, trying to think. He would have to track someone down and request help, if they had Pokémon that could take two across. But he had another idea. He called Surskit out. The tiny blue bug-water type appeared happy as ever. "Hey, buddy, can you help us across?" he requested. The Surskit jumped up happily, running onto the water, gliding upon it. Gardevoir tilted her head, confused, watching her human friend climb into the water and grab onto the Surskit.

"Okay. Now just take me across. I know I'm a bit heavy, buddy," Rob apologized. Surskit was being pulled down a bit, but he did his best to begin the slow swim across the river. Gardevoir covered her mouth with one of her hands, finding the sight somewhat funny at how he barely had his head above the water himself. Once he reached the other side, he panted glad, to have gotten out, but was drenched in water. "Haha! That was fun… okay, Gardevoir! It's your turn!" he called to her. She lost amusement in it, seeing Surskit come across, eager to help its friend. She rested her bag nearby and climbed into the water. It was cold, relaxing for her leg. She put one arm around Surskit and used her other arm to hold the bag overhead. "G-Garde," she insisted for him to go. The water strider moved across the river at the same speed as before.

Once on the other side, Gardevoir handed the bag to Rob before he helped her up, her green hair drooping a little. Thankfully it was quite sunny out today. At most It was just a quick bath in a river. Rob smiled, seeing Surskit come up from the river.

"Wow! That was some risky way to cross!" they heard, looking over to see a man in a red cap, white shirt and blue jeans with a camera on his shoulder. He approached alongside a woman with short blue hair, a white shirt and blue jeans who was carrying a microphone. "H-hey! I know you two! You're Gabby and Ty!" he spoke recognizing them for their voices over the Hoenn news that broadcasted across the region. "That's right! Gabby and Ty of Channel 38. Do you mind if we have a battle? We're looking to interview more young trainers' opinions after that white haired boy beat us," she explained. Rob looked over to Gardevoir. The soaked Pokémon nodded, agreeing to it, while Surskit did a small spin, excited for a double battle.

Gabby and Ty sent out a Magnemite and Loudred respectively. They looked positive, readying themselves like they were ready to win this one after losing to some white haired person that had been talked about a lot lately. "Thunderbolt!" Gabby ordered, watching Magnemite discharge a bolt of electricity. "Right. Surskit! Double Team!" Rob shouted, watching as Surskit began to multiply into various clones while moving fast. The lightning struck one, but it vanished. "Hyper Voice!" Ty grinned, watching Loudred echo a loud screech that stopped Surskit, injuring its ears. Gardevoir felt her head echo in pain just from hearing it. "Gardevoir! Use… uh… use what you want, I guess," Rob awkwardly stopped midway through his command, not sure if she would listen, even if he knew her full moveset beyond Psychic.

Gardevoir aimed her hand at Loudred, firing three glowing rings at the loud Pokémon. They all hit the eyelids of the Pokémon, and they began to get heavier and heavier before suddenly it fell over, asleep. It had fallen subject to Hypnosis. "Thunderbolt!" Gabby shouted, watching another arching bolt of lightning crash into Surskit, sending the tiny water bug flying back. It landed in front of Rob, twitching slightly, having been rendered unconscious by its weakness to electricity. "Oh no!" Rob shouted. Gardevoir glared, aiming her hand at Loudred. Small energy spheres appeared from the Pokémon and flew toward her, being absorbed into her. "Dream Eater? I didn't know you had that…" Rob commented while holding his Surskit in his arms. Loudred was knocked out in its sleep due to the attack.

"Sonic Boom!" Gabby shouted, watching Magnemite fire multiple waves of weirdly loud noise. Upon contact, it made Gardevoir's body ache. She was getting sick of the auditory torture. She used psychic in an attempt to damage the Magnemite's mind in retaliation. Sadly, its typing made it more resistant to her moves. "Tackle- then thunderbolt!" Gabby called out. Magnemite charged at Gardevoir, ramming into her chest like a small cannonball fired towards her, the small electric type released a huge bolt of electricity combined with it. She fell onto her knees and then collapsed completely, having been defeated. Rob came over seeing her messed up hair and bruised body. He didn't expect to lose to a news reporter.

Gabby recalled Magnemite to its Pokéball, letting her trusty cameraman handle his knocked out Loudred. "That was a great fight, sir. Not interview worthy, but I have to ask why you allowed Gardevoir to do anything without orders," the reported hummed. It wasn't abnormal for the reporter to interview someone that beat her, but if there was a major oddity, she was on it immediately. "…silent teamwork?" Rob bluntly answered. It was the only thing he could think of. "Well, it was a great battle, nonetheless," she said while writing what he said down, before walking away with her cameraman. Rob sighed, thinking they were going to spend the night here, which was coming shortly.


	8. Arrival

Gardevoir's head was aching as she began to wake again. Above her was the moon still in the sky and the stars beaming around it. She looked down, realizing a recently bandaged Surskit was on her lap, having cuddled up to sleep apparently after their astounding loss. She realized they weren't on Route 118 now, though the area was now surrounded by tall grass and trees, which was confusing to her. She then saw Rob asleep under one of the trees along with various potions lying around. She could tell he did his best to heal them without the aid of a Pokémon Centre, but she doubted a light shocking would have caused any major damage on her. She stood up, her leg protesting in pain, but she ignored the pain like always and went over to the bag she had been carrying for most of the journey, grabbing the medicine in it and taking a few of the pills.

"Hmm...? Gardevoir? Good morning," Rob spoke up, having been awoken from hearing her rustling through the bag. It seemed that he was a very light sleeper. He realized it was probably a little before morning. Gardevoir felt awful herself from having at least a thousand volts of electricity ravage her into an unconscious state. "Garde," she responded. Rob recalled Surskit to its, Pokéball thinking it preferred to be carried in that capsule. "I'm sorry about the fight. Like I said, I'm more of a berry farmer. But hey. This might cheer you up," he exclaimed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. He began unfolding it. The paper got bigger within each second of unfolding, crunching and tiny ripping noises. Revealed to Gardevoir at last was a large map.

"Mount Pyre is just past this route!" Rob exclaimed. Route 122 was immediately after where they were. She learned then that he had brought her all the way to Route 123 on his own, though not being overweight probably made it an easy task in itself. "The sun'll be up soon. Do you want to get going?" Rob offered. She crouched down, picking up the bag and throwing it over her shoulder, agreeing to continue forth. She thought she could do nothing but rest once at their destination. She walked side by side with her presumed false friend who had done a lot more for her than she could even repay him for.

The route was more and more heavy brush with a few small hillsides, which they found out the hard way by travelling from one patch of grass and tumbling down into another field of tall grass. It hadn't done much to harm them thankfully and the Pokémon on the route were not that active tonight. She wanted to become suspicious of the use of repels, but she so far hadn't been noticing any of the effects of a repel, so she just presumed he was lucky. "You've… been through a lot, haven't you?" he asked. "Garde?" she raised an eyebrow, not wanting to go on another trip into her memories like she had been doing lately in her zone outs. "You act like you have nothing but nightmares in your sleep, and you are a lot more aggressive and at the same time friendly than most wild Pokémon," he continued further into his reason to his query. "If you don't wanna talk about it, I'm sorry. I just would like to at least know you're stable…" he started to stray from the conversation like he was talking to himself.

"Voir…" she sighed, nodding. Travelling with him this long, he at least deserved acknowledgement that she was not entirely stable past trauma, resurrecting itself in her memories. And that was when it began to come into sight. A huge, mountainous piece of land, floating among the tides of water that was cut off from the mainland. Gardevoir watched as Rob summoned Surskit from its Pokéball. The tiny water bug was still asleep, just curled up on the ground. "Hey, Surskit. Sorry, but we need you again," he apologized while stroking its head, trying to get it to wake up. The tiny Pokémon just begrudgingly looked at them, not able to become as hyper as last time after the battle knockout yesterday.

After spending another bit of time, Surskit had done like before and allowed them to grab him one at a time, pulling them across to the island of Mount Pyre. Once ashore, Rob was panting, his dripping wet sweater getting a bit heavy now from absorbing water, and that was just an indication of how sick he was of swimming. Gardevoir felt like the cold water was a way of fully waking her, but her leg pain was like a nerve system alarm clock. Rob recalled Surskit to its Pokéball. "Well… we finally made it," Rob sighed in relief. It had barely taken a day or so in time, but it felt like a lot longer than that.

But, they couldn't enjoy it much. Rob was more than aware that he would have to wait for his sister to arrive, and he doubted she would be here at five in the morning. "How about I try to cook some berry soup for us?" he suggested. The only food they had left were berries that he hadn't used in case of poisoning or various other ailments that Pokémon could affect each other with. Surskit jumped in joy of the idea for breakfast.

Gardevoir shook her head. "Garde…" she sighed while taking another pill, beginning to head up the nearby steps, doing her best to compensate with the leg pain. "Right. We'll wait here…" Rob called out to her, looking back to his tiny blue Pokémon that just looked worried, hoping his psychic friend would be alright on her own at least. He knew that wild Pokémon were still around Mount Pyre.


	9. Lina

Gardevoir had ascended to the entrance of Mount Pyre, alone. The inside was just what she expected. Nothing had changed aside from the rows of tombstones before her. The inside was stone grey, and each tombstone had some special symbol carved into it along with the name of the trainer's last words to the Pokémon to carry onto its afterlife, out of some weird belief that the inscribed words would etch into their minds. She saw various people of different ages around, who were grieving or paying respects to their fallen Pokémon. It was odd to see people this early in the morning, but she didn't question it. She proceeded upstairs. Each step just sent another shock wave from her leg to her thigh and part of her lower body. The pain medicine wasn't doing much to prevent the pain for long.

Gardevoir arrived to the second floor, where no one else was around. She presumed that the first floor was for the most recent deaths at the moment. She went to the other side of the second floor and stopped midway to see another row of tombstones. But only one caught her attention. A somewhat darkened one that had succumbed to the damage of time. On the tombstone was a small symbol carved into it, which was a blazing fire on a rock which indicated a fire ground type buried there. She was glad they were keeping the grave readable, at least. She crouched down, reading the words inscribed on the stone slab. "Here lies Camerupt, an immovable Pokémon that did its best to take on infinite forces." The date was written to a few years ago as the day it died underneath the text was another small scripture. "Trained by Lucas Jones." Gardevoir was glad her trainer wasn't completely forgotten about in varying senses from memories to the small writings.

Gardevoir walked away from the grave, and she walked up and up, one floor after another, walking by varying decayed tombstones of all types of Pokémon. There were a few wild ghost types around, but they never posed much threat to her. Very soon, she reached the top of Mount Pyre. She felt and viewed the bright sunlight that was beginning to rise over the summit of the mountain, even if the area still had some fog surrounding it. She walked over to the left of the top of the graveyard, where mostly flying types were buried. It was a way to show how they were still able to enjoy the skies in death, or at least that was what she presumed. It was unclarified why they buried specific types on specific floors, and sometimes they didn't at all.

Gardevoir approached another one of the graves, which had a feather and a bug symbol. A Flying Bug type was buried here underneath. "Here lies Beautifly. Thrice a blue ribbon contest winner, whose beauty emanated like Hannah's hair." The Pokémon also belonged to Mr. Jones, her previous trainer. Gardevoir just sighed, remembering who the grave was referring to when it compared Beautifly's beauty with the hair of Hannah, her old trainer, Jones ex-girlfriend. She remembered their breakup as well, which was shortly after she had evolved, but the longer time went on, the worse Beautifly's beauty and appearance became, the drooping wings and tired posture, and lack of ability to compete in Pokémon competitions.

Gardevoir could see the slowly rising sun on the horizon, glad it was at least morning. Then, she saw two weird orbs nearby on pedestals. One was red and one was blue. They were confusing to her. When she attempted to interact with one by touching it, she was stopped by the sound of a voice. "Mind not touching that?" she paused mid poke, looking over, seeing an old man who approached. The psychic Pokémon pulled her hand back, embarrassed. "G-garde," she apologized, presuming he had just arrived to Mount Pyre since she hadn't seen him on any of the other floors. "I didn't think wild Pokémon strong as you were around here," he commented, coming over and making sure both of the spheres were safe. She didn't pay him much mind before beginning to make her way back down the many floors she had climbed up, after she had finished paying her respect to her deceased past comrades.

At the second floor, Gardevoir saw Rob walking up the steps alongside a blonde haired girl that had a red shirt and jeans. Her shirt had random black embers on it. "Oh, there you are! Gardevoir, this is my little sister, Lina," Rob introduced them. His sister looked back and forth, noting that the Pokémon was wandering on its own, but still claimed as his own. It was all odd to her. The two shook hands. "Voir," she greeted, glad to meet her, but she was doubting the circumstances were happy.

"Lina requested I come due to her Aggron's death," Rob explained. His sibling's Pokémon had been buried, perhaps late into yesterday. He had already paid his respects to his sister's tragic loss. "Garde…" Gardevoir nodded, extending her condolences while using another hand to rub her leg sorely. She was unable to take more painkillers since she had already taken some not so long ago. Just thinking of Pokémon dying was starting to get into her head. It was often on her memory that it made her worried that she was getting some intuition of her life, slowly repeating in her sleep like she was getting closer to death. "You have gotten better as a trainer, at least," Lina commented upon viewing the injury as some form of cheap joke at her brother's expense.

Gardevoir was noticing various people in holy themed clothing, appearing presumed to be the people to guard the graves, since some Pokémon were buried with treasured items or such, and people had the idea to steal them occasionally, thus the mountain had to have some defense. "Why don't we eat together? I don't want to depress you as well," Lina suggested, not wanting to depress him with the atmosphere. She was aware of what kind of trouble this was to make the effort and travel from Rustboro to here. Rob looked to his psychic travel companion. She nodded, not minding taking the moment to eat. "Fortree City's nearby," she said excitedly. It wasn't hard to tell she wasn't the type to be easily depressed, so Gardevoir presumed she had spent any excess sadness by her Pokémon's final moments already.


	10. Found

Gardevoir had travelled with Lina and Rob for a good few hours. It was getting into the early morning now and the time the group made was easier since most trainers had fallen asleep. They had passed through Route 121 and Route 120 until they arrived to a very heavy area of trees. "So… how did Aggron die?" Rob didn't want to be insensitive, but he wanted to know how, at least, since he partially grew up with her deceased steel type. "He was older than we knew. He just refused to evolve for a while," Lina answered. When she had caught her Pokémon before it evolved, it was a lot older than they thought, that which did surprise Rob, but he knew some Pokémon were persistent and just refused to evolve sometimes for various reasons.

Gardevoir didn't pay much mind to the conversation. She was taking another painkiller. Her leg had refused to stop hurting now. It was either a slight tingling pain like a force was sending an electric shock through her in small waves. Otherwise, it would just throb like she had just lost use of the appendage. There wasn't much middle ground in the pain. At last, they arrived to Fortree City, a somewhat small village which was calmer, known as the treetop city that frolics with nature. The homes were in the trees, most of them aside from the Pokémon Center and Gym.

They had climbed the walkways in the trees to get to the Pokémon Center, where they planned to rest for a short time. Inside, there weren't any other trainers. The group didn't pay it much mind, as they stepped inside and sat down at a table. Rob was still aware of the pain Gardevoir had been in. "Hope you don't mind meeting my Pokémon," Lina said, hoping neither would mind. "Garde," the psychic nodded. "I haven't seen them in a while," Rob reassured, thinking it was time for a full meeting between their Pokémon, Rob letting Surskit out of its Pokéball. The berry farmer didn't want to admit that Gardevoir wasn't really his Pokémon.

Lina pulled out three various Pokéballs and opened them up. In the bright flashes of light, Gardevoir saw a blue Pokémon with yellow fur appear known as a Manectric, an electric type wolf Pokémon. The second to appear was a short red Pokémon known as a Magby. It looked barely hatched which did strike a minor nerve in the psychic's mind. She didn't see the third Pokémon anywhere though, that was until Lina began giggling like something had started tickling her on her shoulder. Gardevoir could see a bug ground type known as a Nincada that was clearly fond of its trainer.

"I didn't know you had a Magby," Rob commented, watching her pick up the fire type and rub its back. The baby seemed to enjoy the feeling well. "Manectric found its egg a few weeks ago. He just hatched the other day," Lina explained. Surskit was trying to converse with the Nincada while Manectric just lay down.

Gardevoir didn't care much for the conversation, and she doubted their lunch would be ready soon. She stood up, knowing the two wanted to catch up on what one another had been doing. "You going for a walk?" Rob asked. "Voir…" she nodded, before leaving the table to exit the Pokémon Center. Unbeknownst to her, the worried Surskit stopped talking to the Nincada and scurried off to follow her out of worry, since it had noticed her odd behaviour last time.

Gardevoir was wandering the walkway of Fortree City, hoping that the nice view of the forest would keep her mind distracted, but something else had her attention halfway across the walkway. She could see the gym below, where a lot of trainers appeared to be gathered to view whatever was going on inside. The psychic wanted to know what it was, looking at a nearby ladder. Before she could begin to climb it, she felt something poke at her arm. Surskit was behind her, balancing on the rope of the bridge. "Sur-surskit?" he was worried for her. Gardevoir, looked at the tiny bug-water type and rubbed its head. "Garde," she pointed to where a lot of people were gathered, using it as an excuse for why she left. She picked up the Surskit and let it hold onto her back before beginning to scale down the ladder.

The two Pokémon doubted that they could get anywhere close to the front door of the Gym, just due to how many wanted to be at least inside to view it, so they were going to take the left side of the building to view from one of the smaller windows. No one was there, thankfully. Gardevoir let Surskit off her back and stand in her hands to see what was going on. Inside one peek could show what it was.

Inside the Gym, a big red bipedal chicken Pokémon stood in a fighting stance, known as a Blaziken. Across from it was a Skarmory, a steel bird that was flying around. The Gym Leader, Winona, was in possession of the Skarmory. She was in her usual outfit, a blue skydiver jumpsuit, and wearing a matching helmet, her long purple hair stuck out from underneath it. The challenger was a teenager with an orange and black shirt and a green headband, with a Pokémon emblem on it, he had white hair being the trainer of the Blaziken, he seemed relaxed for battling a major gym leader.

The Skarmory was circling around the Blaziken, having been using one ability to try and lower its defence. "Blaze Kick!" the trainer yelled, watching his Blaziken crouch down and glare before jumping up, its feet catching fire. It spun around, slamming its flaming feet at the side of Skarmory, knocking it clean out of the air and chucking it into the ground. It was long unconscious before it had even hit the ground. The trainers were in awe as Blaziken stretched. "Great work, Blaziken!" his trainer cheered. Winona seemed angered as she recalled Skarmory and sent out her last Pokémon which was a Tropius.

The trainer grinned, thinking he could win it easily. "Sorry, Blaziken, but the others need training, too," he said, his Pokémon nodding and letting him recall it to his Pokéball. The trainer reached into his side and pulled out a Great Ball. He threw it, and in a bright light appeared a Kirlia that had blue hair and the orange horns on her head. Gardevoir was frozen, and her eyes were widened. She dropped Surskit on the ground, the bug-water type shaking it off easily and looking up to his friend, seeing her expression which made him more confused than before.


	11. Bad ending

Gardevoir was in shock seeing, the all too familiar Shiny Kirlia. The only thing she could focus on was the not fully evolved Pokémon, recognizing the Kirlia as her one child. It had barely been a few days, but to see her evolved already made her feel somewhat in joy, but an empty pride to know she had been captured by the trainer. This only seemed to entice the crowd into even more awe. Surskit was more preoccupied, trying to snap Gardevoir out of her state.

"Sunny Day, Tropius!" Winona ordered, watching her Tropius illuminate and brighten the room with intense sunlight. The white haired trainer was just calmly standing there while Kirlia stood idle. "Solar Beam!" Tropius heard the command, and it fired a bright beam of light that flew across the gym toward them. Kirlia spun around, putting up a Protect move before the Solar Beam collided with it. Great clouds of dust flew from the impact. "Keep it up, Kirlia!" her trainer cheered, barely giving any orders. "Confuse Ray!" he ordered, watching the blue haired Pokémon fire a small sphere that spun around Tropius's head, confusing it. The Grass-Flying Pokémon was doing its best to resist the scattered brain confusion it was being affected by so far. "Shadow Ball!" he ordered. Kirlia charged up a small dark sphere of energy in her hands, and threw it at Tropius who was unable to do anything but take the hit directly.

"Oh no! Tropius!" Winona cried, seeing the smoke clear from the shadow ball. Her Pokémon was unconscious, having burnt up a major chunk of its energy on the failed Solar Beam. "The winner is… Brendan!" the referee monitoring the match announced to the loud cheers of the people that had been watching the match. Brendan just smiled. "Wow! You did great! Guess the money I spent on TMs helped after all," he laughed, picking Kirlia up and tossing her in the air and catching her again. The Pokémon laughed in enjoyment at her joyful trainer's praise. He put her back down to face Winona. "Well, you beat me fair and square… That was a good fight," Winona commented, showing him the turquoise coloured Feather Badge, which he now earned for winning the battle. "You fought good, too," Brendan nodded, acknowledging her for doing her best. He thought it would have been over in one move if he left Blaziken out, glad that his shiny Pokémon had handled it with ease. "Let's go, Kirlia," he hummed, beginning to exit the Gym, his shiny following happily like they were the best of friends. Gardevoir kept staring into the building. Surskit was on the top of her head, trying to get her to snap out of it, still unsure what was going on in her mind right now.

It was late in the morning over a small mountain side of the region. A man in his late thirties was sitting against a wall, eating some food, having been traversing the mountains to get to his next location. A Camerupt was resting nearby as well. The man was a younger Mister Jones. Gardevoir even knew she was having a memory at this point, but she just wanted to enjoy the past finding it impossible to ignore acknowledging it as the time shortly after Jones had begun his traverse across the region.

Jones was enjoying the bright day so far. Nothing had been proving too much of an effort. Just then, he started to hear a cracking noise. "Hey, Camerupt! I think its hatching!" he exclaimed. Camerupt looked at him, coming closer, seeing him pull a Pokémon egg out of his bag that had a few cracks in it. Pieces of the eggshell began to fall off as the top part of it broke off. Inside appeared a small Ralts that looked around to the bright environment, confused. "Wow! A Ralts was in that egg?" Jones said in a bit of surprise, having found the egg in a cave around a month ago. He was close to presuming the yolk of the egg hadn't survived. "Welcome to the region, little one," he greeted the Ralts, offering his hand to it. The tiny Pokémon didn't mind him picking her up to help get out of the remains of the egg shell.

Camerupt just stared at the baby psychic type that giggled, seeing the oversized fire-ground Pokémon. Jones just presumed it had a cheerful nature. He dug around in his bag and pulled out a small Pecha Berry, handing it to her the baby. Ralts happily began nibbling on it to consume the berry.

Gardevoir was snapped back awake. She held her head, groaning. "G-garde…" she groaned, realizing she had somehow passed out on the ground. Surskit was beside her, having spent most of the time trying to reawaken her. The psychic type sighed, disappointed that her memories of her hatching were over. "Skit-surskit?" the Surskit worriedly asked if its friend was okay. She moved him aside, getting up. "Garde… Voir-gardevoir," she ordered, wanting the tiny bug to go back to its trainer Rob. She had no idea where Brendan went, but she didn't want to even try to follow. She knew that she would never be able to do anything for her child now. Not even in a lifetime. She was not sure how to feel since her daughter appeared happier than ever to be a trainer's Pokémon. Surskit was reluctant, but it agreed, scurrying off to get back to the Pokémon Center.

Gardevoir didn't know what to do. She was wandering the area outside of Fortree City. Her heart had sunk to her stomach, refusing to lift up at least one inch. It just felt like her whole life, every time she started to get happy or cheerful, something would come and steal important things from her, whether it be people or just her own body. Her leg refused to stop aching midway. She looked over at the nearby tall grass. The only thing she could consider doing was making sure the pain stopped.

After going into the tall grass to hide, she sat down under one of the big trees, digging around in the bag. She pulled out the bottle of pain killers, popping the cap off the bottle before tilting it back, consuming what was left of the pain relieving medication. She dropped the empty bottle on the ground, just sitting there. That was all she could do now, feeling sleepy as the world around her became fuzzy. She began to develop a fever fast. The flashes of memories whizzed around her, like they indicated the end of the line for her. She fell over, keeping her eyes closed, feeling nothing but regret.


	12. The end

Gardevoir lay there, staring at the sky after seeing her shiny child win the gym match. It wasn't long before the crowd had scattered. "Surskit?" Surskit nudged her head, trying to get his friend back on her feet, worrying that he had to go get his trainer. She pulled herself up seeing her tiny friend crawl into her lap. "Sur-surskit?" it tried to find out what was wrong before that had stunned her. Gardevoir picked the water bug type up, hugging him tightly. "Garde…" she sighed, not wanting to really go into detail over it. The only thing she could really think of was that her daughter was happy and in a good trainer's care now. Clearly it was something she hadn't expected to happen when she first had her child. She stood up, thinking it was time to go back to the Pokémon Center.

At the Pokémon Center, Rob had been searching around, trying to find Surskit since he had vanished without any sign. Lina was searching with him as well before the doors opened and Gardevoir entered inside, carrying him. "There you are!" Rob exclaimed, seeing his Surskit jump down cheerfully, relieved that he was alright. Lina was glad that the psychic had found him though her Pokémon didn't seem as concerned. In fact, most were asleep. Rob recalled Surskit to its Poke Ball and looked to Gardevoir's leg, seeing her depression easily and her aching leg. He just sighed at it. "Come on. We should let them look at your leg," he insisted, just before the green haired Pokémon grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, wanting a more personal conversation with the berry farmer who she had been travelling with for a few days now.

"What is it, Gardevoir? You really should let them see your leg. I'm worried it's making you worse," Rob said, presuming she didn't want to waste another hour or so being treated. She shook her head, grabbing one of his empty Poké Balls. He was confused, seeing a smile creep on the female Pokémon's face, as she pointed to it and herself. "What? You want me… to catch you?" Rob guessed, and she nodded. "Garde!" she hummed wanting to be his Pokémon. She decided that if she had to pick between a genuinely kind trainer, and scavenging out in the wilderness, she would indeed prefer to be his Pokémon. The past few days brought back nothing but memories. Painful or not, she was thankful to have relived them, whether his involvement assisted in them or not. She wanted to know she could be at peace as well.

Rob took the Poké Ball from her letting it expand in his hands. "And you're sure about this?" he asked once again, trying to get over the awkward sudden change of mind. She couldn't really find any downside; having a new nice trainer, not having to battle as often, being out of the wild hostile environment and being able to get easier medical treatment for her limb. She was aware to be nearing her older age, and she just wanted to get more peace with it. "Alright… well, welcome to the family," Rob told her before opening the Poké Ball up, watching Gardevoir get absorbed into it with a bright red light. It shook in his hand, at least once or twice, he couldn't really tell, before it stopped moving, making the noise to indicate successful capture.

Gardevoir reappeared in a bright light. She was still in the Pokémon Center, wondering what had happened. Rob was sitting nearby. "Hey there," he greeted. Lina was nowhere to be seen though, so Gardevoir presumed she had resumed her own journey. "So how's the leg?" Rob asked. He had gotten her treated immediately after she had been captured by him. Gardevoir looked at where her injury once was, and she only saw a scar left, and now it felt a lot better. "Garde," she smiled. "Yeah… they said that the bone was fractured. You'd be using a cane if they hadn't treated it when they did," he elaborated on what Nurse Joy had told him. It wasn't completely pain free, but it was a lot better than before.

Rob got in front of Gardevoir and offered her bag back to her. "Come on, it's about time we go home. You don't like being in that Poké Ball, right?" he joked. It was obvious she preferred being able to travel on her own feet than being carried around. She nodded, taking the bag and throwing it over her shoulder, ready to head back to her new home. Once they were ready, the two left the Pokémon Center. While they were walking, Rob still wanted to know what had exactly happened to cause her to get injured, but he was glad to at least have another Pokémon since sometimes Surskit got a bit overzealous when it came to helping.

Gardevoir just kept a smile on her face, with the sun shining overhead. The last thing in her head was the dismay of the past. She didn't want to know why the chain of events had to happen to her, but she accepted it in the end. Both she and her child were well and healthy, and now they were both in happier places with good trainers.

The end...


End file.
